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Ask HN: Destroy ISIS. Crowdsourcing a Map of ISIS Strongholds

3 points by jakobov 11y ago

Any opinions of whether it would be useful to create an Arabic and English site that allows normal people who are living in ISIS territory to submit intelligence about ISIS. For example: Mark ISIS locations on a map. This could be used by western air forces to carry out strikes.

JeffreyKaine 11y ago
Security and anonymity will be paramount here. The last thing you want is for ISIS to get a hold of submitters identities. I think it's quite possibly a great idea though. Optimize for mobile web and keep the bandwidth requirements down. Even if the service provides just one or two tips that make a difference in the fight it would be worth while.
omginternets 11y ago
An interesting approach to this would be to scrape social media for ISIS content and extract EXIF data from images. I remember reading sometime last year that USSOCOM was using a similar strategy to direct fire missions. I think, however, that a more realistic strategy would be a mass trolling campaign where everybody poses as disenfranchised women seeking to marry jihadists. The goal is to get them to spend money on plane tickets, bribes, and accommodations without actually producing results.
theworstshill 11y ago
Western air forces have been conducting airstrikes on ISIS for 5 years now, and didn't do jack. A map where informers can paint ISIS locations will only get them killed, every major player in the middle east has intelligence from satellites where they can see where troop movements originate from, and where they're going. The problem is the will to really fight them in a total war, going straight for the money - bombing the oil wells instead of makeshift refineries that take a day to set up. Its the same problem where US isn't willing to destroy opium poppy fields for fear of angrying the locals (and since I got my tinfoil hat on - there were probably other geopolitical considerations there as well). Lack of data isn't the issue, Putin will clean out ISIS from Syria within half a year.
Phillips126 11y ago
Interesting thought, but would require a lot of validation to ensure that the location submitted was in fact an ISIS base and not the submitters ex-wife's house. I would imagine that a large amount of people would quickly abuse the tool, forcing the government/intelligence agency to discontinue use.

3 points by jakobov 11y ago

JeffreyKaine 11y ago

Security and anonymity will be paramount here. The last thing you want is for ISIS to get a hold of submitters identities. I think it's quite possibly a great idea though. Optimize for mobile web and keep the bandwidth requirements down. Even if the service provides just one or two tips that make a difference in the fight it would be worth while.

omginternets 11y ago

An interesting approach to this would be to scrape social media for ISIS content and extract EXIF data from images. I remember reading sometime last year that USSOCOM was using a similar strategy to direct fire missions. I think, however, that a more realistic strategy would be a mass trolling campaign where everybody poses as disenfranchised women seeking to marry jihadists. The goal is to get them to spend money on plane tickets, bribes, and accommodations without actually producing results.

theworstshill 11y ago

Western air forces have been conducting airstrikes on ISIS for 5 years now, and didn't do jack. A map where informers can paint ISIS locations will only get them killed, every major player in the middle east has intelligence from satellites where they can see where troop movements originate from, and where they're going. The problem is the will to really fight them in a total war, going straight for the money - bombing the oil wells instead of makeshift refineries that take a day to set up. Its the same problem where US isn't willing to destroy opium poppy fields for fear of angrying the locals (and since I got my tinfoil hat on - there were probably other geopolitical considerations there as well). Lack of data isn't the issue, Putin will clean out ISIS from Syria within half a year.

Phillips126 11y ago

Interesting thought, but would require a lot of validation to ensure that the location submitted was in fact an ISIS base and not the submitters ex-wife's house. I would imagine that a large amount of people would quickly abuse the tool, forcing the government/intelligence agency to discontinue use.